Back into Arizona: From the Salton Sea to Saguaro Country
Farewell to California
We began the morning exploring the shoreline sculptures of Bombay Beach before officially turning east. With the eventual goal of returning to Colorado, we plotted a route through the Sonoran Desert to cling to the warmth as long as possible. After a few failed attempts at finding an open coffee shop in the Imperial Valley, we finally fueled up in El Centro and crossed the state line into Arizona.
Scrambling through Palm Canyon
Rose found a detour in a national wildlife refuge that led us toward an imposing volcanic massif. We hiked toward a hidden grove of palms tucked high within a mountain crag of the Kofa Wilderness. At the end of the maintained trail, we scrambled up several boulders and slab sections to reach the sun-baked grove. After taking in the view from the gap, we descended back to the van and pushed further east as dusk settled in.
Sleeping Under the Saguaros
We found a dispersed campsite on a hillside west of Tucson, surrounded by the iconic Saguaro cacti. The weather was much balmier than it had been in Joshua Tree, making it the perfect night to test our outdoor sleeping setup one last time. Despite some midnight interruptions from locals on quads, we enjoyed a solid night’s sleep under the stars.
